You've seen the pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman dressed as the 1800s version of Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson from the upcoming Christmas special. But now showrunner Steven Moffat has confirmed that the special will take place entirely in the character's original era.

Once the pics of the two actors in period garb had hit the internet, fans had theorized that the two characters were possibly in costume for some reason — perhaps a costume party — or perhaps it was some kind of dream sequence. But as Moffat told EW:

The special is its own thing. We wouldn't have done the story we're doing, and the way we're doing it, if we didn't have this special. It's not part of the run of three episodes. So we had this to do it – as we could hardly conceal – it's Victorian. [Co-creator Mark Gatiss] and me, we wanted to do this, but it had to be a special, it had to be separate entity on its own. It's kind of in its own little bubble.

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I'm actually more excited about this than I am more modern-day Sherlock.